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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Mohamed El-ShewyORCiD, Dr Mark GriffithsORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
The article develops a simple but important argument: “conflict free” minerals are essential to the waging of contemporary war. This argument is substantiated over three main sections. First, we provide historical background to the idea of “conflict minerals” to show how they are narrowly associated with the violence of extraction and with consumer products (phones, electric vehicles, etc) in way that forecloses their use in weapons manufacturing and war further along the supply chain. Second, we draw from fieldwork in Rwanda and secondary sources to explicate the ways that minerals attain “conflict free” certification despite documented links with conflict in central Africa. Transparency in supply chains, we show, is carefully angled: issues of provenance (i.e., the movement of minerals to and in Rwanda) are obscured yet meticulous systems are in place to enable and trace the movement of minerals from Rwanda. In the third section, we focus on the supply of tin and tantalum from Rwanda to weapons suppliers and outline the use of those minerals in contemporary military hardware. In conclusion we sketch an agenda for future research on “conflict free” minerals that go to war.
Author(s): Rubaii K, El-Shewy M, Griffiths M
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Political Geography
Year: 2025
Volume: 123
Print publication date: 01/12/2025
Online publication date: 18/09/2025
Acceptance date: 14/09/2025
Date deposited: 14/09/2025
ISSN (print): 0962-6298
ISSN (electronic): 1873-5096
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2025.103425
DOI: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2025.103425
Data Access Statement: Data will be made available on request.
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